tire bounce

beck-mark

Member
thanks for all the replies sounds like from reading all of them I have a tire about to go ill need to get that checked as soon as possible. I crawled around underneath the trailer and looked at the suspension and did not notice anything out of ordinary. The tires and wheels are original equipment towmax tires.
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
There are many trailers that do not have any shock absorbers, there are many fifth wheels that the owners have removed the shocks because of the perception that they are not effective. Given that I doubt that your tire bounce is a result of shock absorbers. Especially since the shock does nothing more than dampen the oscillation of your axles after being upset by a chug hole or other upsetting feature in the road surface. With or without shocks your wheels should be firmly planted on the pavement if there is no upset.

Given the above statement, IMHO, you have a tire that is out of round because it is fixing to fail. Centripetal force is trying to sling the rubber off the tire, when you stop, the tire resumes its normal shape.

The Elkridge line, unless something changed over the years, does not have (automotive style) shock absorbers. The suspension (if Dexter) has a rubber biscuit that absorbs some road shock.

My guess would be to check the other suggestions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
The tires and wheels are original equipment Towmax tires.
These tires are notorious for failures. There are plenty of pics available of square tires.
Based on your issues with bounce I would recommend that you do not put another mile on them.

Peace
Dave
 

mlpeloquin

Well-known member
Look at the tread of the tires from the side. It should be flat not round across the tread surface. It it is rounded, the tread has been separating from the belt. Tow Max tires are not if they will blow, but when. Get rid of them ASAP.
 

beck-mark

Member
Again thanks for all the replies. As it turned out both front tires had failed. Had them replaced yesterday. My next question is do I have any recourse either through heartland or bowman. They were less than 2 years old and less than 2000 miles on them ( just local camping trips)
 

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
Again thanks for all the replies. As it turned out both front tires had failed. Had them replaced yesterday. My next question is do I have any recourse either through heartland or bowman. They were less than 2 years old and less than 2000 miles on them ( just local camping trips)

Did you replace all four tires or just the two that failed?
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Again thanks for all the replies. As it turned out both front tires had failed. Had them replaced yesterday. My next question is do I have any recourse either through heartland or bowman. They were less than 2 years old and less than 2000 miles on them ( just local camping trips)

Tires are warranted by the tire distributor or manufacturer. Most will have a warranty that may get you something if you're prepared to return the bad tires. Another choice would be to offer them to NHTSA to examine and determine if there's a manufacturing defect that would justify a recall.
 

SNOKING

Well-known member
Earlier this year North of Seattle I saw a new bumper pull being delivered by a TV with signage on the doors. One axle had tires in a constant jumping up and down mode. 2000-2200 miles from the factory. Most ST trailers tires are just plain cheap junk. I do not think the springs on that axle will have a very long life either. Chris
 
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mlpeloquin

Well-known member
I hope that they are not Towmax. They are known as Blowmax. It is not if they will fail, but when. Some have gotten as little as 200 miles with over $1800 in damage. Saw a nice new Landmark three years ago that came to the Rino rally with less than 200 miles on it. Towmax tires blew before he made it to his first night stay in his new rig. The repair is on you and the manufacture will just cover some of the tire cost - well maybe. They will claim that the tires were under inflated even though they were at 80psi before you took started out. If they are Towmax get rid of them all.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Saw a nice new Landmark three years ago that came to the Rino rally with less than 200 miles on it. Towmax tires blew before he made it to his first night stay in his new rig.

Sorry to have to call this into question, but I doubt any Landmark has ever shipped with Towmax tires. They currently ship with Goodyear G114 and prior to that shipped with Goodyear G614 - at least as far back as units built in 2010. If you go back far enough, they probably shipped with other brands at some point prior to 2010, but I don't think Towmax tires were ever used.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
... Saw a nice new Landmark three years ago that came to the Rino rally with less than 200 miles on it. Towmax tires blew before he made it to his first night stay in his new rig....

Landmarks have never shipped with TowMax tires. My guess is this was a dealer lot swap for someone who wanted Goodyear's on another coach to do the deal.
 

CoveredWagon

Well-known member
Of course you have never had an issue. I stated that balancing trailer tires is not required, trailers have no steering tires to transmit vibrations.

The front tires on your car or truck are connected through linkages. "Out of balance" tires phase in and phase out through the steering linkage. When the tires are in phase the vibration is not noticeable, but when they are out of phase they can shake violently.

Balancing only occurs in one plane, since your trailer tire is fixed on it's axle, and it has no mate to phase in and out with, the physics holds the trailer tire on the the correct plane, balanced or not.

Trailer wheels are "LUG CENTRIC, and if balanced, they need to be balanced by BOLTING the wheel to the balancing machine, most automotive shops only have "HUB CENTRIC" balancing equipment. If your trailer tires are being balanced utilizing a "hub centric cone", they are not likely balanced anyway. It's up to you, but I don't pay for balancing a trailer tire, and I do not notice any problem.

BTW my G114 and HiSpec Mod 3 rims were mated in such a way that they were balanced without wheel weights.


Let me see if I got this right. You're telling me the rear tires on my truck, car or whatever don't need to be balanced cause the rear wheels don't steer ? Umm I don't think so. And BTW trailer tires should also be balanced. If I noticed a problem I'd first be inspecting any tire for lumps in the tread i.e. broken belt or a bulging sidewall. If not that then it's off to the tire shop, not joes gas station. Some trailer tires are lug centric and some are hub centric.
 

mlpeloquin

Well-known member
Landmarks have never shipped with TowMax tires. My guess is this was a dealer lot swap for someone who wanted Goodyear's on another coach to do the deal.

Jim it may have been a dealer swap because they were Towmax. That is what convinced me to get rid of mine. Bob Hartsell recommended the Goodyear G614's. Could not be happier.
 
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